Theology & Ethics

Monotheism: Who's Your Daddy?

I casually flip through the bumper stickers at a metaphysical shop. One sticker in particular catches my eye, and I cease shuffling them. This sticker, with its cheery gold background and Celtic knot work border, proudly proclaims “Christianity has Pagan DNA!” Certainly the scribe of this phrase does not mean this literally, but rather simply means that Christianity was born of polytheistic roots.

Although I cherish the attitude of the phrase, the wording leaves me disconcerted. I know this as a “truism,” something I feel and understand is true, if limited. I’ve never encountered any biblical passage reading, “And you shall cut down an evergreen, yea, and bring it into your house each twenty-fifth of December,” nor have I found reference to the three kings wassailing the cedars of Lebanon.